Things are pretty hectic these days. And, as one watches the evening news, or catches sight of a front page of a newspaper, it may seem as if there is little one can do to make the world a better place. It may seem as if the only answer is to close the door to the outside world and take care of one's own. Two things make this difficult. First, the outside world has a nasty way of intruding on our "private" sanctuaries. And, second, although it is important to take care of one's own, it is also important to use the rights others have struggled to give us, to make the world we hand to all of our kids better if we can. The organizations and information sources below have ways that, with one or a few hours a week, one person can make a difference.

Oxfam America works to eradicate poverty and hunger in the United States and provides a gateway to organizations working in other countries and internationally as well.

Habitat for Humanity works throughout the world building safe and affordable housing with and for the poor.

In the United States a child is more likely to live in poverty than anyone else. Some argue that because children cannot vote their interests are regularly ignored. One group attempting to put children on the political agenda is the Children's Defense Fund.

Children are also vulnerable beyond the nation's borders, and unicef attempts to defend the world's children in the international context.

Children and adults both suffer when nations go to war. One organization working to preserve and extend peace and justice is the American Friends Service Committee, a Nobel prize-winning inter-faith organization founded in 1917.

When nations wage war, they legalize the use of deadly force. But some nations authorize the use of deadly force in times of peace against prisoners. Although most Western countries have renounced this practice, the United States has not. As the United States maintains and extends the death penalty, it behooves us to know who is being executed in our name and why.

Political protesters are often just normal people who seek to be treated with basic human dignity. Yet, regimes the world over have jailed the likes of Martin Luther King, Jr., Mahatma Ghandi, Lech Walesa, Alexander Solzhenitsyn, and Nelson Mandela. Countless others met their deaths in the custody of state authorities. In addition to attempting to assure that all prisoners, whatever their political perspective, are protected from state terror, Amnesty International works to secure prisoners rights and to document and protest on-going larger scale human rights abuses.

City Talk is a Bay Area organization working to build cross-cultural links between ordinary people of different nations and to increase environmental understanding. At present, the organization is focused on bringing Africans from Entebbe into conversation with Americans from San Mateo, California, sustaining those conversations, and promoting an awareness that we all share the same Earth.

Human beings are not, at present, alone on this planet. Indeed, our fate is inextricably intertwined with that of our non-human compatriots. The Marine Mammal Center endeavors to assure that some of the animals we live with will be free to live long and healthful lives.

Closer to home (same species, same city), Children's Hospital Oakland has many volunteer opportunities. You might be surprised just how important a volunteer can be in aiding in the healing process, and I know of no more deserving patients than children.

These are just a few of the many opportunities out there for making a positive difference in the world. As we take these and other steps toward our neighbors, we help make this world a better place for today and tomorrow, and make possible a legacy of which we all can be proud.